Cover the counter.

To limit the mess when preparing meat, chicken, or fish, consider lining countertops with butcher paper (buy it from your supermarket meat department), then fold it up with the scraps and toss it when you're done. The plastic coating keeps juices and goop from seeping onto the counter, saving you one messy cleaning chore.

Cook simply.

"The recipe you cook for Tuesday night is not the recipe you cook on Saturday night," says Chris Kimball, founder and editor of Cook's Illustrated magazine and host of America's Test Kitchen (on PBS stations). For Kimball's family, weeknights call for one-pot meals (soups, stews), dishes cooked fast on high heat (stir-fries, sautés), or pastas, with fruit for dessert. He saves the elaborate, messy meals with multiple side dishes — and bowls and pans and cleanup — for the weekend.

Keep the refrigerator clear.

A crowded refrigerator is an invitation to spills from things knocked over as you rifle through it before dinner. Start labeling and dating leftovers (with a grease pencil or masking tape and a pen) when you put them away and there will be no more wondering whether the salsa is past its prime. So excavation isn't needed every time you put groceries away, clear the shelves each week before you head to the market. And try a trick for keeping shelves neat from Joni Hilton, author of Housekeeping Secrets My Mother Never Taught Me (Prima Lifestyles, $18, www.amazon.com) and founder of the cleaning-products company Holy Cow: Use large bins to corral like items — smoothie fixings, jams and jellies, sandwich condiments, lunch meats, and cheeses. "It's amazing how clean your fridge stays," she says. And you'll spend less time trying to find the mustard.

Fill the sink with hot, soapy water.

Then, as you work, drop in the tools and dishes you've used and let soak. (Put knives in a tall glass or other container so you don't risk cutting yourself later.) When it's time to straighten up, a quick drain and rinse often does the trick.